: Re: How do you avoid the problem of a collaborative work having separate voices? I've not done collaborative writing before, but I've read several works, and sometimes the text strikes me as having

@Carla500

Vote Up Vote Down

If you want to unify the voices: Get a tough editor.

Explain to him/her that you have two authors and you want to standardize their voices. You might pick a passage or a chapter which particularly reflects both writers, and say "make it all sound like that." Then be prepared to have a whole chunk of everything rewritten.

ETA: Examples of things which might be rewritten to create a balance of styles:

One author tends to use long, complex sentences with many clauses,
interrupters, and parentheticals, and the other author uses short
choppy sentences. The longer ones may be cut and made into several,
and the shorter ones may be joined, until there's a happy medium.
One author use lots of description. The other is very minimalist. The
descriptive sections can be trimmed down to remove some flourishes,
and the spare sections padded out.
One author rarely uses dialogue tags, even "said." The other uses
attributives, action tags, and dialogue tags in every line. Some attributives are rewritten or removed, and then some added where they are missing.
One author uses elaborate metaphors, and the other doesn't use them
anywhere. Remove some and add to the other sections.

If you want distinctive voices: I like the idea of structuring to accommodate them.

For fiction, each author could take only certain characters/POVs. So Raymond's sections have short choppy sentences, with little description, while Anne's have a more flowing and atmospheric style. But Raymond only writes from the POV of a soldier, a general, and the vice president, while Anne writes from the POV of a concierge, a mad dictator, and the ambassador.

For non-fiction: Give the section an author's byline and quit worrying.

(0)

Login to post a comment!